UK airline EasyJet has confirmed further cuts to its flight numbers this summer in response to ongoing travel chaos at European airports, which is now being accentuated by ground staff shortages and flight reductions at London’s Gatwick and in Amsterdam.
EasyJet said it expects to be able to re-book the majority of customers on alternative flights, with many being on the same day for which they originally booked.
The airline said, as a result of the flight cuts, it now expects its flight capacity in the third quarter of its current financial year – the three months to the end of June – to be around 87% of 2019 levels.
Its fourth quarter capacity – covering the three months to the end of September – is expected to be around 90% of 2019 levels.
EasyJet also said it will see a cost impact from the disruption.
EasyJet had previously expected to operate 90% of 2019 capacity this quarter and around 97% in its fourth quarter.
“Delivering a safe and reliable operation for our customers in this challenging environment is EasyJet’s highest priority and we are sorry that for some customers we have not been able to deliver the service they have come to expect from us,” said EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren.
“While in recent weeks the action we have taken to build in further resilience has seen us continue to operate up to 1,700 flights and carry up to a quarter of a million customers a day, the ongoing challenging operating environment has unfortunately continued to have an impact which has resulted in cancellations,” he said.
“We believe this is the right action for us to take so we can deliver for all of our customers over the peak summer period in this challenging environment,” Mr Lundgren said.
Despite the move to cut capacity, Mr Lundgren said the medium-term outlook for EasyJet remains attractive, with the airline winning an additional three aircraft worth of slots at Lisbon Airport, which will become available this winter.
EasyJet also said booking momentum has continued, with demand for travel this summer remaining strong. It said the current quarter has seen 86% of capacity sold, with ticket yields up around 2% and 48% of next quarter’s capacity sold and ticket yields up around 14% for those three months.
“We will continue to fine tune our schedule in the light of industry conditions as we move through the summer season in order to deliver for our customers,” EasyJet said.
In its current quarter, EasyJet plans to operate around 140,000 flights, carrying around 22 million passengers, with capacity planned to be 550% of the same period in 2021.
Demand for travel has returned, with April and May passengers seven times the same months last year, the airline said.
